Like a Coin,
by dragonsire13
Summary: life always has a light and a black side about itself. This is a story about the latter. Flipping a coin gives one a fifty/fifty chance of winning or loosing but there are times when either is better than doing nothing.


Disclaimer: I don't own ideas, plot parts or characters from Harry Potter they belong to Joanne K. Rowling and that is good so. I don't earn any money with this story. I claim my original characters and the new ideas as well as the changed plot as mine, this also includes the madness and weird stuff. As you are my most appreciated readers and I know that you are all brilliant you will be able to memorize these words and add them to all new chapters of the story. This will spare me the work of writing it down every time... thanks soo much you are too kind.

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Author's note: Hello! This is a prequel to my story "Never cross path with a Black" both of them can stand on their own so noooo worries just read it for fun ;).

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**Chapter 1: Turning point**

Hogwarts was burning, all their protections crumbled and most of their friends were dead. Harry couldn't see clearly because his blood still run across his face but he never stopped firing one cutting curse after another at the approaching death eaters. They couldn't enter the room. Ron was at his side but he could hear that his friend had problems to breath and move. All of them were tired not surprising if one considered that they fought since three days. Three days full of screams and terror. It would be a close call but one look inside the room told him that Hermione had finished to draw the blood runes. Draco and Lyra had both used their knowledge to design it and Hermione as their runes expert already had proof read the design and recalculated the equations. Of course it was illegal, of course it was dark magic but what the hell did they care? Hermione's hands shivered as she felt the old magic that pulsed through the markings on the stone floor. So far the preparations were finished... now they needed luck and enough time to pull this through. She looked back over her shoulder and saw Harry and Ron firing spells at the approaching death eaters and Draco and Lyra tried to put up some wards and traps. They could only hope this would work... it was their last chance.

Draco couldn't believe that Neville and Luna were dead. He couldn't believe that all of them were dead. Hogwarts had fallen, it burned. They were the last fighters. Five against twenty of the most vile fighters of Voldemort's inner circle and the dark Lord himself. The giants were dead and the spiders completely destroyed as well as most of the weaker death eaters but they had lost all of the teachers and their friends. Hogwarts was in ruins, the walls and roofs destroyed, the portraits burning and the armor suits smashed. They had lost and he had lost his parents. They had taken the other corridor with Neville and Luna to stop the Death eaters from following the first years. They should have left with the kids as they had evacuated them to Hogsmead but they hadn't want to leave them and tried to fight their way back towards them. They didn't made it and so the last memories he had from his parents and his friends was the apology his father had told him.

"This is mostly my fault if we hadn't followed this monster for so many years we would have had a chance. Now I will try to make up for some of the things that have happened. I'm sorry Draco you shouldn't have grown up in such times."

Now he regretted more than ever that he had spent more time in preparing for this battle than using his chance to hug his mother for the last time. This was so useless they never had a chance. How could a bunch of kids hold the ground against vile fighters with years of experience in killing and torturing people? How would anyone face those dark magicians without mercy? He hated most that the ministry hadn't sent help, nobody did. People went into hiding and sacrificed the children rather than stand up and fight. He suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder, it was Lyra and he knew it was time. Both installed the last wards and concealing charms and activated the traps. Then they retreated from the door and closed it tightly. Harry and Ron also added some shields and locking charms before all of them retreated to the center of the room.

Hermione grabbed her silver bag and pulled a small black box full of glass spheres out of it. She was glad that she had some of them left. Most had been used by the Weasley twins to fill them with nasty magic. They had been easy to throw and like shells they exploded and caused some heavy deformations or other sick things that the twin devils had invented. Now she threw all but five of them back into her bag. Without explanation everyone took one of those spheres and Draco started the process of copying his memories... all of them. His entire life ran into the sphere, a soft silver flow of memory threats. He also already knew the way to conserve and seal them. Lyra followed his example but the rest of them needed help and some explanations. Despite the immense hurry and the high amount of adrenaline in their bodies all of them managed to finish the spells. The process also included some magic that bonded the spheres to their own soul, it was a safety measure that prevented anyone but themselves to get access to the memories.

Only a few minutes later they put the spheres back into the box and Lyra sealed it with a Black family spell, one that she already knew as a small child. Then they knew that they had to hurry with the ritual as the door shook violently. They only had mere seconds left to finish or everything would just end. Lyra put the small box into the middle of the drawn rune circle and cut her palm and let some more of her blood drop onto the box. It would cause the box to appear close to her location and during the process she clearly focused on one special day in her past. Before they had decided to do this ritual they had argued who should receive the box, in the end Lyra had won. None of the muggle raised members in their group would know what to do with the box and the other two had the disadvantage that their family would recognize it as dark magic and would never allow their children close to them. Even Draco had known that his parents wouldn't allow him to download 17 years worth memories and they would be put out for two days. So Lyra focused on a memory of a day the furthest into the past as possible where her family wouldn't summon her for some days.

The door exploded and the death eaters stormed into the room but they came to late. With an enormous white light the runes glowed and the black box vanished and with it everything that had happened.

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**The past**

Lyra was four years old not that she really knew that. The only thing she knew was pain and fear. She feared her family and the pain that would come when her grandmother caught her the next time. She knew more about pain than others. There was good and bad pain. It was good when her hands burned from the endless cutting of herbs, or if her eyes became blurry from the fumes of the cauldron. It also was good pain if she felt sick from being too close to those magical herbs for too long. Those pains were good because it meant she was working in the potion laboratory and there she was safe from the bad pain that always came when her grandmother pointed her wand at her. The laboratory was a dangerous place, it was dangerous because the fumes could make the room explode or magic could react badly to other magic. If she had known yet what a volcano was she would have compared working in the dark room downstairs with hopping along the edge of a raging volcano. Oddly enough it was the second safest place she knew in the world. There inside the dangerous room would no one point a wand at her not even her grandmother even if she really wanted to do so. The only other place she ever felt safe in were the kitchens. There lived the house elves and those were her protectors and friends. She was also friends with the dryads outside in the forest but that wasn't safe. If it weren't for the house elves she would have probably died after some of the pranks they pulled at her. Like trying to trap her inside of a stone cave... which led to a hibernating dragon.

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**Flashback**

"haha that is funny!"

A small child with deep black hair ran through the forest, trying to hide away from the spirits that lived in the trees. If one looked at the trees they could see huge eyes appearing between the branches and vanishing again. Dryads were trickster but those which lived close to Black Manor were especially mischievous and some were even dark. Probably because the magic coming from the wizards had been evil for the last centuries. At the moment they played with the future mistress of the lands. Not that the child knew that, the girl was nearly four years old and measured by the bouts of accidental magic she was very happy with their game. The air tickled due to the magic and the trees swallowed it greedily as they hadn't access to soo much magic for a very long time. So they continued to play with the child and enjoyed the brightly colored butterflies which were conjured by the small witch. They smelled of innocence and sweetness, contrary to those spirits in the trees as their magic was much more chaotic and wild.

Lyra ran through the forest and enjoyed her freedom. She loved to be outside, it was much better than staying inside the dark manor. Suddenly she detected a small entrance in a nearby cave. Twink always told her that her curiosity would surely kill her. It was nice how much the house elves cared about her but they also had a running joke... because Lyra would confidently answer: _Better than be killed by my grandmother. _Not that she thought about any of this as she went inside to find out what kind of secrets were hidden inside that place.

It was an amazing sight. Lyra never cared much for jewels even if she found it beautiful if they glittered but nothing that she had ever seen could be compared to what she saw in front of her. She had crawled through a small tunnel which ended in a huge cave underneath the surface. There was also water, it flew in a small ice cold streamlet through the cave. The room itself was lit up by the glowing crystals which bathed everything in a pale blue light. Lyra carefully searched for a way through the stalactites which hung down so far they nearly touched her.

In the very middle of the room the young girl found a pile made of crystal. It was huge like a small hill and the blue light reflected from it beautifully. She got closer and took in that amazing sight until she noticed that the crystals had scales shaped into them and that the hill seemed to move. It was an flat movement as if the hill was expanding before shrinking back. It was breathing? Lyra carefully got closer, she knew that there were dangerous beings on their lands but this seemed so beautiful she was just curious and wanted to find out what exactly it was that she had discovered.

_A human? Here inside my nest? They have become much to daring in the last centuries maybe it is time to make an example. I should eat it and be done with it._

The thoughts of the being were slow and sticky like glue. Not that this was unusual if you wake after centuries of sleep. Being slowed down by heavy sleepiness is probably what saved Lyra's life because as the old dragon opened an eye she was able to see that a small child was in front of her. Under different circumstance she would have probably eaten the intruder before recognizing it as child. So instead the dragon carefully picked it's head up and looked closer at the small bundle of curiosity in front of it.

Lyra was of course shocked that she looked into the ocean blue eyes of a fully grown dragon. Also a dragon species she hadn't yet heard of... this wasn't one of the feral beasts her aunt had warned her about... this one was beautiful.

"Hello"

Lyra's voice was shaky and she shivered with fear.

**End Flashback**

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It had been the beginning of a great friendship. Induuna how the dragon called herself was one of the older ones. She had told her that she had already lived in these lands before the first human magical or non magical had even been seen or heard of. Induuna was also a mother to many dragons and somehow looking at Lyra had convinced her that he now had an honourable hatchling to look after. Not that Lyra complained learning from such a being was amazing, the dragon knew tons of stories and Lyra loved listening to stories. While being a hatchling to a dragon was great it wasn't all sunshine, no Induuna was a stern master and while she would tell her all kinds of stories she would never tell something twice. Lyra was expected to get it right at the first try as Dragons normally had an superior instinct and wouldn't need to be told twice. They instinctively knew how to fly and their mothers would only kick them out of the nest when it was time. Lyra also knew that she shouldn't get on the bad side of her "mother" as the crystal talons were as long as she was high...

Induuna also enjoyed having a young ward but her motives were much more selfish than the young child suspected. Smelling her innocence Induuna had refrained from killing the girl and had spend a lot of time to learn about where she came from and who her family was. The dragon had been thrilled as it discovered that she was the heiress... not by blood but by magic itself. This small bundle full of questions would one day be in charge of the land and the magic and the old dragon could finally feel something reviving in her ancient bones. There was her chance... the chance of bringing magic back to this lands for herself and all the other magical beings. So she settled to educate the child in history, she taught about the heritage of Avalon, the priests, the guardians and the magic. She told about Merlin and Arthur which she had met personally and how magic was in earth itself. Lyra listened closely but most of what she was told was far beyond her and she wasn't able to remember all of it. Induuna knew very well that she would need great patience but she also knew that her influence would be able to guide the child away from the darkness of her family. The other Blacks were all tainted and unable to take on their duty. Those people had betrayed their responsibility and magic itself and now all of the lands suffered because of it.

None of the dragon's ulterior motives were known to Lyra. She only knew that the dragon would let her forget, as long as she listened to Induuna's stories she wouldn't need to think about her grandmother and the pain. Also if she was injured or couldn't walk because Crucio was used on her again then Iduuna always made her feel better, healthier again. So between the house elves which always thought for her survival when she again lay in a pool of her own blood and the ancient dragon, she managed to survive. With growing up she also got better in evading the attacks either by hiding between explosive substances while brewing or with being outside and out of harms way. That didn't mean that the punishment didn't get worse every time especially if her Grandmother was frustrated with not catching her in a while. Lyra feared the moment when her official lessons would begin. Even if she wasn't heir she was still a Lady of the House of Black. That meant that she was expected to behave perfectly Lady like and her Grandmother would drill her to be the perfect image of what society expected of her. That was the reason why she fled into the forest this afternoon. It was her last chance to visit Induuna, the dragon had been ill for a while and with her soon being stuck in the house for the whole time she feared that she wouldn't see her friend again.

Induuna was indeed ill and weak. Her phases of hibernation had become longer every time until she slept more than she was awake. She could of course say that at her age that wouldn't matter anymore but it did matter. Her weakness had come through the lack of magic in the environment. For centuries now the guardians were gone and with them the magic had gone to sleep as well. The power that had vibrated during Athur's reign and had filled the lands with life and power was now sleeping in the depths of the earth. No one knew if it would ever wake up again... as long as it didn't all magical beings became weaker and even the all powerful dragons could now be killed if they weren't careful to avoid the non magical society. Induuna felt her end nearing, she hadn't just given stories to the child but also used great amounts of her power to ensure that Lyra survived her various injuries. Dragons weren't compassionate beings on the contrary even they were quite feral and possessive. The only real love that a dragon knew was to his territory and Induuna was still a very proud specimen but never would she have injured one of her hatchlings. Yes they were shied away after they were grown and forced to find their own territory but never would she have used them to relieve her own frustration while hurting them.

The dragon was too old and weak to feel deep emotions anymore but even she couldn't stop herself from hating the Blacks. As Lyra came to visit her that day she saw how the small child was still shaking from the exposure to the Cruciatus curse. She had a hard time to walk and her steps were clumsy. As if it was a regular ritual between them, Lyra came closer to the dragon's head and Unduuna placed her nuzzle on the child's forehead. The old being breathed some of her magic into the child and Lyra immediately felt better. The last remains of pain left her system and she felt much more relaxed.

"Child sadly I feel the need to go back to hibernation soon. I fear this will be the last time I could heal you."

Lyra looked into the blue eyes with deep sadness. It would be hard to loose the one she trusted like other children did trust their parents. The old being sighed, this hatchling was still much too young to be left on its own.

"You will need to protect yourself better or you won't survive. At least you should manage to reach your stage of stretching your wings for the first time."

"I will try but it's hard as my grandmother gets more motivated to catch me the longer I'm able to evade her punishments."

"You told me that you have the house elves as friends?"

"Yes but grandmother already forces them to punish themselves every hour and they are forbidden to help me."

"What exactly are their orders?"

"Grandmother told them to not bring me food anymore so I would have to eat with them in the dining hall."

"But did she forbid them to drop food, or forget it somewhere?"

"No, not that I know... so you say that I should ask them to forget food in a specific place? But aren't they bound to be loyal to my grandmother?"

"There are different bonds little hatchling... theirs to you is from friendship and love and theirs to your grandmother is from force and slavery. So they will try to help you but you have to find the loopholes for them to do so. You also should be very careful with not getting caught otherwise they will soon have to punish themselves if they forget food somewhere."

Lyra thought about the conversation for some time but guessed that she had caught what the dragon was trying to teach her. She was to be sneaky, cunning and smart about what she needed and wasn't allowed to get caught. The irony was that those were exactly the traits a good Black should possess. After that the meeting came slowly to an end as Induuna felt more tired every second. She managed to tell the hatchling some more important things and could only hope that what she had done would be enough to ensure that she would live. From the work of the child in the next years would probably depend if she would ever wake from hibernation again or not. With tears in her eyes the small child hugged her friend goodbye before leaving the cave.

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It was close to noon as Lyra returned from the forest. She had been to saddened to stay hidden there even if the Dryads would have enjoyed it to play with her. It would also have been saver than hiding inside the manor but at the moment she couldn't care. What Lyra didn't know was that she was to meet her grandmother in the entrance hall and that she would receive one of the longest torture sessions she had yet to live through. They would of course get even worse with the years but this one would be the first were no one in her family would care about her survival anymore. She would only survive it thanks to the combined efforts of all the house elves. She also didn't know that this was the day were the charmed message of her mother was found that she had abandoned her family. Lyra would never care as she had also abandoned her daughter and left her to the cruel hands of the matriarch. Until this point in the family history she had been one female descendent of the Black family... a niece to Bellatrix and Narcissa but from now on she would only be the punching bag for the Matriach.

Luckily this time around something changed. A small black box appeared in a glowing circle of runes. Lyra could feel the magic tickling at her skin. The light had appeared close to the kitchen entrance, the one she always used to get inside even if she couldn't escape the trip through the entrance hall to reach the cellar stairs down to the lab, she could at least prevent being hit by something nasty by only opening the door. Lyra wasn't afraid from whatever had appeared because she knew that nothing could be send through the wards from outside that would harm anyone of Black blood and her family only used direct approaches to torture her not deception. She was also sure that no one in her family knew that she always went through the kitchen, they probably didn't even know where the kitchens were and would never think that anyone from the family (even her) would stoop so low to walk through the room where the slaves were stored. Lyra got very curious about what had appeared. If she had already known something about runes then she would have noticed the special ones referring to time but the child had only started with occlumentic, potions and behaviour lessons yet.

It was a black box and as she carefully touched it, nothing happened. It was a bit of a let down but the only change that Lyra noticed was that the runes started to fade and any trace of magic disappeared until there was nothing more than a box. Carefully she sat down in the grass next to the entrance, there was a bush that shielded her from the line of sight from the windows and gave her enough shelter to have a better look at the curious thing that appeared out of nowhere. The first trace of magic that she could actually find was that it seemed to be locked. Thinking about what she had already overheard from conversations she thought that it would be best to try it with a bit of blood. If it was sent to her or a member of her family than it could be that it was linked to their blood. Lyra found a sharp rock at the floor and managed to cut herself open with it, she didn't need more than a drop and it opened with an audibly pop. Inside were small crystal orbs filled with what looked like white smoke that seemed to float through some liquid.

Lyra touched one after another until she reached the right one and an immediate reaction happened. Crashing with full force and without mercy into her unprepared brain came seventeen years worth of memories. Lyra dropped back and lay on the floor only partly recognizing what kind of pictures, dates, names, circumstances washed through her mind, ever so slowly melting down to a story. Then blackness claimed her and she knew no more.

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Wow this was much harder to write than I would have guessed... can't really say yet if I continue with it or how regularly I will be able to update... uff.


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